Randy Rook, when he was 10, said he was the first person to buy a ticket at the Russellville movie theater, which was then the Lowrey Picwood Duo Cinema 2, when it opened in November of 1971.

“The movie was ‘Support Your Local Gunfighter’ starring James Garner and it cost me 75 cents to get in,” Rook said. “I loved that movie and I’ve seen it several times since then.”

He said he got popcorn and coke to go with the movie.

“I can’t remember the prices, but it was all cheap,” he said.

Rook, who lived near the theater, said he and his friends were “amazed” when the crew started building it.

“There was nothing around,” he said. “It was called the Picwood — that stands for a picture house in the woods.”

He said Betty Lowrey, mother of Picwood owner Jack Lowrey, reminded him and his friends when opening night was approaching.

“She told us, ‘If you boys get over here early, you can be the first ones to buy a ticket.’ But I didn’t get there early enough because I wasn’t first in line,” Rook said.

Rook said the “town bully” was first in line.

“I was disappointed, but I knew there was nothing I could do,” Rook said. “He was twice my size.”

He said shortly before the ticket booth opened, the bully went under the velvet ropes without permission to use the restroom. When the bully came back and tried to take his place in line, Betty made him go to the back of the line.

“The line went out the door and all the way through the parking lot,” Rook said. “Betty didn’t put up with bullying.”

Rook said he used to maintain a garden that was in the center of the movie theater parking lot in exchange for movie tickets.

“Betty knew I was always bugging my parents for money to go the movies,” he said. “So, she told me to keep up the garden and she would let me in free. She was one of the coolest ladies I’ve ever met.”

Rook, who moved from Russellville when he was a teenager and moved back three weeks ago, said the last movie he saw at the Picwood Duo Cinema 2 was Star Wars in 1977.

“I’d love to go to the Picwood and see a movie now,” he said. “I’m not sure how much it costs, but it’s probably more than 75 cents.”